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ADDKESS 



DELIVERED AT AKRON, OHIO, 



ON THK KVKMXC <>J- THK 



EXECUTION OF JOHN BROWN, 



DECEMBER 2, 1859. 



BY C3-EI^. Xj- a?-- BIEiaCE 



•• The people of the South had better prepare lor.a seltleinenl of this tiuestioii. ll 
must come up sooner than they are prepared for it, and the sooner they ennimenee thai 
preparation the better for them." — John Brown to Gov. Wise. 



COLUMBUS: 

OHIO STATK JOUKNAL STEAM PRESS. 

1865. 



ADDRESS 



DELIVERED AT AKRON, OHIO, 



OX THE EVENING OF THE 



EXECUTION OF JOHN BROWN, 



DEUEMBEK 2, 1859. 



J^'^ 






" The ppople of the South had better prepare for a settlement of this question. It must 
come up sooner than they are prepared for it, and the sooner they commeuce that prepara- 
tion the better for them." — John Brown to Gov. Wise. 



COLUMBUS: 

OHIO STATE JOURNAL STEAM PRESS. 

1865. 






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ADDEESS. 



John Brown has this day perished on a Peaflold, the first martyr in 
"the irrepressible conflict "' of Liberty with Slavery. Ilis blood has 
sanctified the gallows, and made it a fit enibleni of Liberty. 

The political fool, who has no opinions — and the political knave, who, 
having opinions, dare not avow them, may this day keep silence' — and 
the political parasite, who lives, and moves, and holds his existence de- 
pendant on otRcial favor, may cry ^'■Treason''' — but it is a day when free- 
men will think, and speak, regardless of otRcial frowns, chains and gib- 
bets. 

I speak to-day, not as a party man — I am to-day, neither Democrat 
nor Republican — Whig nor tory, but a free American, an advocate of 
Universal Liberty — speaking my own thoughts, views, and sentiments, 
for which, no party, or man. save myself, is responsible. 

I take, for my text, the Declaration of Independence — the great po- 
litical Beacon, set up by the Fathers of the Eevolution. as a guide to the 
haven of Liberty. It is not as has been traitorously charged -'a glitter- 
ing generality "' — but the great paladium of human rights, the Heaven- 
born creed, defining the rights and duties of man. "When that is strick- 
en down, and trodden under foot, we might suppose the blood of our 
fathers, rising from the battlefields of Freedom, would cry out against 
us. When the Eternal Truth "that all men are created free and equal," 
enunciated by Jefferson — and for which Washington fought, and Warren 
died— is declared by the Xorth, as it has been by the South, a mere figure 
of rhetoric, without any practical meaning — Avhen there is substituted, 
in its place, as the American sentiment, that 4.000,000 of native born 
Americans have no rights that the others are bound to respect — when 
this is, as it has been declared by the highest Court in the land to be. the 
law of Liberty, and the basis of Free Institutions— our boasted land of 
liberty, the asylum for the oppressed of all nations, becomes, by judicial 
tyranny, the veriest despotism on the earth. Xo nation has sunk so 
low in servility— none raised so high in infamy. Our whole system is 
revolutionized, and. instead of being created, as the Fathers of the coun- 
try in the Constitution declared, '-to establish Jnstice. and secure the 
blessings of Liberty,'' it is an instrument to protect iniqidty. and extend 
the curse of Slavery throughout the world. 

To this point, we have long been drifting. John C. Calhoun boldly 
declared it as his policy— and it frightened even Southern Tyrants. Cass, 
with his " squatter sovereignty." would allow it— and it shook the nerves 
of the jSTorth. Douglas threw the doors wide open, but having greased 
the hinges, with " popular sovereignty," be thought their grating would 
not arouse the slumbers of the people. So soothing was the breeze of 



"popular sovereignty " that entered through these portals of Slavery, 
that even then the people scarcely awoke. Everett, like an opiate, was 
called in to quiet thcni. "It is but an abstract idea." said he; "the laws 
of Nature will forbid, and prevent Slavery from going North," and all 
was quiet again. 

Trusting to their success so far. and finding the North in a quiet slum- 
ber. Mason brought forth the "Fugitive Slave Act." which, like the fa- 
bled goddess of old. converted men into dogs, to do the bidding of Ty- 
rants. In the transmutation, the freemen of the North awoke, but 
found themselves unable to act like human beings, and could only bark 
as they were bid. and like dogs in all ages, worry those they saw in dis- 
tress. But one hope remained — in the Judiciary — faint though it was, 
yet they clung to it like drowning men to straws. Kane, of riiiladel- 
phia. in the person of an honest Quaker, struck down that hope. Yes! 
■when a daring act is to be performed, the South select a Northern nian, 
whose nerves have become strong at the expense of his conscience. By 
his decision, the decision of an individual who had been a man, but by 
"the 1-ugitive Slave Law " had been changed to a dog. the Constitution, 
Laws, and sentiments of the Keystone State were overthrown, arid she 
converted into Slave territory, wliere the blood-hounds of the South, 
with their more base allies of the North, could amuse themselves in 
hunting down, and shooting native born Americans. 

McLean, of Ohio, was next called upon to do the brutal work of the 
South, and silence the North. To him was a.-signcd the Avork of gag- 
ging those who dared tell a fugitive what the law Avas, and wliat were 
his rights luidcr it, Uruier the decision of this servile Judge of the 
North, with Southern principles, a lawyer of Ohio was lined $2.0U0 for 
telling a native born American, who inherited a black skin, that his jail- 
ors had no right to detain him, unless they had a warrant, issued by 
competent authority. By him was the freedom of the Bar of Ohio 
struck down, and Lawyers allowed to speak only honied phrases, select- 
ed and assorted by the dictators of the South. 

The Bar being silenced, the next assult on the North was intrusted to 
Leavitt. whose caliber of talent, and conscien( e f tted him to do the woi k. 
He attacked the sovereignty of the Avhole Stale— and with the foice of 
the General Government to back him. took forcible possession of prison- 
ers charged with nmrdcr by the Grand Juries of Ohio, marched them 
from their own State, and delivered tlieni over to i)ersons chiiniing to 
own them in Kentucky— thus, holding that the lav, s of Slavery in Ken- 
tucky, were more binding, even in Ohio, than the Laws of Oliio against 
murder. 

The way being now prepared, and ;i)l the dirty work done by the base 
minions of Slavery at the North, the South marched bravely to the as- 
sault—and Taney, who began life an Anti Slavery man, closes it with a 
decision, tliat. if submitted to, completes the humiliation of the North, 
by declaring "the Fugitive Slave Act," Constitutional— that citizens of 
a free State may be taken with, or without a warrant, and carried into 
Slavery, and that 4.000,000 native born Americans, if their complexion 
is darker than the Slave-holder's standard, "have no rights that a white 
man is bound to respect." 



The descendants of tliose negroes ulio Ibvijrlit so l)ravcly lor I.itjt iiv 
in the Rcvolntionaiy 'VVar, as well as the Slaves oC tlic (.oltoii and Hice 
])]antations, are thus struek down, and denied tiie ri<;lits nl" liuuianity.— 
Lnst, and Erntality can now liuld hi>>h carnival on the deleuceless vic- 
tims of oppression, and justify under the Laws of lliis free Republic, 
"Oiiou laiKl of the free, now lioiiic of lli ■ SIjivl-." 

The barriers being thus all thrown down. Slavery takes its course 
Northward, and claims Kansas as its own. Frank I'iene. as Senator 
Atchison declares, before he could receive the nominal ion lor rresirlent. 
had to iilcdge himself to use his etlbrts to nnike it a Slave State. Then 
nothing was moie easy than for him to get the nomination, and he eleet- 
cd President — but it was at the expense of his manhood. 

It was said by a celebrated naturalist, when looking at what is ealh d 
"the old man of the mountain,"' in New Ilamshire, that -(iod hung it 
out as a sign that he made men there" — but he surely forgot, or neglect- 
ed his business when lie made Frank Pierce. His every act was that of 
base truckling to Slavery. His muiu if he ever possessed it, was swal- 
lowed up in his servility. 

Douglas i)roclaimcd "Popular Sovereignty "■—that tlie will of the peo- 
ple should rule— the practical application of whidi was— provided tin- 
people will as the Slaveholders desire — if not, their will is Treason. To 
carry out this "Popular Sovereignty," armed bands from Missouri, went 
over, and voted, and controlled every election in Kansas. If a P'rce 
State man avowed his sentiments, he was shot, his house burnt, and his 
property destroyed. If a newspaper dared utter free sentiments, it was 
torn doAvn, and thrown into the river. If a landlord dared avow his ab- 
horrence of such proceedings, his Tavern was indicted as a nuisance, 
and battered down with cannon, procured for the pnrjjose. from the 
United States Arsenals. If a minister of the Gospel dared avow the 
doctrines of "the Golden Eule," he was placed on a rait of logs, and 
sent down the river, at the mercy of the waves. If the people of Kan- 
sas dared to oppose these outrages, they were declared Rebels, and who- 
ever killed them w as rewarded with an office from the President. 

Clark and Gardner, two of these "Popular Sovereignty" heroes, shot a 
boy of eighteen years, as he rode along the highway, because he dared 
to think difterently from them on the subject of Slavel-y. Clark was. at 
the time of the muider, Indian Agent under the Government, but his 
bravery, in shooting this boy, proved him worthy of a more honorable 
station, and he was made Purser in the Navy— and Gardner Postmastei- 
at Lawrence. Jones. Postmaster at Westport in Missouri, who led the 
party that battered down the Free State Hotel at Lawrence— destroyed 
the free Presses, and murdered the inhabitants, was made Collector of 
Customs, by the President. Murphy, who took his rifle, and went out. 
declaring that he would have the scalp of a Free State man. and shot 
Hopps, an iinoftending man, scalped him and brought in his scalji. open- 
ly boasting of wnat he had done, was appointed, by the President. Indian 
Agent. Emery, who murdered Phillips, was' appointed by the Presi- 
dent, Receiver of a land office. Gibson, who hewed down E. P. Brown, 
while he was a prisoner, and unarmed, and to complete his brutality, 
spit tobacco in his eyes while dying, was made Deputy United States 



6 

Marshal. John Brown, Jr.. and Jason, two of the sons of the Old Hero of 
Ossawatomle, were chained toofether, their ancles and wrists manacled, 
and driven thirty miles, on foot, in a burning sun — the iron wearing into 
the flesh — in consequence of which. Jahn became a raving lunatic. 

Because John Brown, the Father, dare to resist sucli barbaritj' on his 
children, tlie President offered a reward for his head. 

Buford, and his Carolina rullians were sent there to enforce "'Popular 
Sovereignty," and compel the people to submit to a Government that, we 
are told, was of their own choice. The United States Arsenal at Liberty, 
3Iissoiiri, was seized, the connnandant imprisoned, the cannon, guns and 
ammunition carried away, to batter down Lawrence, without any resist- 
ance by the United States forces, or prosecution by the civil power, 
though the actors were well known — but when the people of the Xorth 
dared to aid the Free State Men with arms, the President was ready with 
a Proclamation to denounce them as traitors, and the army was sent to 
put them down. 

When a pretended Constitution was formed by Slavery proi)agandists, 
without the consent of the ix'ople. the President was for recognizing it, 
and receiving Kansas as a Slave State. But when the people formed a 
free Constitution, and their Legislature assembled under it. Colonel 
Sumner was sent, with the United States Dragoons, to disperse them. 

Pursued by tlie blood hounds of Slavery at home, and abroad — a 
reward offerd for his head by the Government that should have sustained 
him — his sons butchered in cold blood, and their murderers rewarded 
with office — is it strange that John Bi-own turned on his pursuers? He 
labored in the cause of freedom in Kansas, and few sympathised with 
him. Those who should have done so looked coldly on, because the 
President declared him an outlaw. Thank God! t furnished him arms — 
as did others in Aki-on — and right good use did he make of them; and, 
1 3-day freedom in Kansas is more indebted to John Brown of Ossawato- 
mie, than to all others. 

Religious in belief, conscientious in action, he believed himself pre- 
destined to overthrow the power of slavery — and whether with a 
dozen, or alone, this faith sustained him. In his camp, he allowed no 
profanity, and no unprincii)led Soldier, however brave. -I would 
rather," said he, "have small pox, yellow fever, and the cholera, alto- 
gether in my camp, than a man without principle."' AVith one hand on 
his rifle, and the other raised to Heaven, he devoutly asked a bles- 
sing on his rations, and offered up prayer, morning and evening, in 
his camp. ''Give me," said he, "men of good principles, God fearing 
men, men who respect themselves — and, with a dozen 1 will light a hun- 
dred ruflians." With the bravery of a Ctesar, he had the piety of a 
Cromwell. The one taught him to trust in God, the other to look well 
to his arms and anununition. 

He was an abolitionist, and for many years had cherished the idea, 
that he was the Moses, predestined of God, to lead "the cliildren of bond- 
age," in America, to freedom. It was, with him, a religious conviction, 
that had grown with his growth, and strengthened with his strength, 
until it had become a part of his being. With this idea predominant, he 
left his wife, and home, and with his sons, went to Kansas, to commence 



his mission. With no preparation, witlioiit ovcmi an arquainfanor' thorp, 
he burst upon tlie Slavery advocates like Jove in thunder, ^\■llether 
-with a dozen men. or alone, he never declined tiie eonibat. He was for 
action. "Tal!dno:,"'said he, "does no good to the slave— it is an excuse for 
weak men, with tender consciences, who are too timid to fljrlit, and too 
honest to be silent." But he conscientiously believed it to he Inn duty to 
act. His faith was based in "Unman Brotherhood and the God of bat- 
tles." He honored merit wherever found, and believed Nat Turner an 
equal in merit, with Washington— and could not see the reason why one 
was honored for creating an insurrection against a lawful (JovernnienL, 
and the other hung as a Traitor. 

His ardent spirit, under a cold exterior was like the secihing volcano 
under a mountain of external snow — strong in contrast— ever burniu" 
and tumultuous — bound down by surrounding matter — but ever readv 
to burst forth and consume its bands. "He was grand, gloomv, anil 
peculiar." He moved in society of which he hardly formed a part, with 
his eyes ever tixed on the ultimato of his nussion. His wrongs in Kansas 
had roused the sleeping lion, and he believed himself the Agent of God, 
to carry out the principle of "Human Brotherhood," "to do unto others 
as he would have others do unto him." He looked at the wrongs of 
the slave as a wrong to God, and Hiunanity, and that it was right 
for any one to interfere so far as to free those wickedly held in bonds 
— that it was the greatest service a man could render to God. "I 
respect," said he, "the rights of the poorest, jaid weakest of the colored 
people, oppressed by the slave system, as much as I do those of the weal- 
thy and most powerful. The cry of distress, and of the distressed, is my 
reason, and the only one that impelled me." He believed it was folly 
to attempt to strike the shackles otf the slaves by force of moral suasion, 
or legal agitation — that the people of the slave States Avould never con- 
sider the subject of slavery in it true light, until some other argument 
is resorted to than moral suasion. 

These sentiments, so openly and honorably avowed in his extraordinary 
examination by the Father of " the Fugitive Slave Law," aided by the 
commandant of the military forces that guarded him — and the scullion 
of Ohio servility, show his true motives, honorable and frankly express- 
ed — and rather would I have the fame which will be bestowed by after 
ages on John Brown for those noble sentiments, than that of Governor 
Wise, or President Buchanan, who with all the chivalry of Virginia and 
Maryland at their heels, could not capture the Old Hero, strong in the 
right, and moral power, until the little band lay weltering in their gore ; 
enriching the soil with blood that will hereafter produce heroes. 

Talk about the Xoi'th sending Brown on that expedition ! He required 
no sending. He was far in advance of the age in which he lived— so far, 
indeed, that he could hear no orders from any one. When asked if he 
went to Kansas under the auspices of the Emigrant Aid Society—" A'o 
Sir,'' was his emphatic reply, " I Avent under the auspices of Old John 
Brown, and nobody else "— self-reliant and self-possessed, he acknowl- 
edged no leader but God, no orders but those based in right and dictated 
by his own conscience. The idea that he was the instrument in the 
bauds of God to break the chains of the oppressed, and set the bondman 



8 

frop. wa? tho main?prino: of his ovfry action. On tliis principle he 
■would tight the shwe propajrandist in Kansas, and o-o. fearlessly, into 
Missouri and release slaves, and tal<e them to Canada, or open their jails 
and release Doy and his son. imprisoned eai)tives. -whose only crime was 
a love of Freedom. It was this idea that haunted his couch bj- nijiht, 
and Avas ever jjresent in his day visions. The clankino: of chains on the 
slaves ever reminded him of his own manacled sons, whose raving cries 
for help ever sounded in his ears. He could not resist it. He risked his 
all, and fell. Yes, noble Hero I there Avas not spirit enough in the North 
to aid him — He risked his life in defence of right and justice — was 
defeated and fell — but like the mighty Sampson, whom the Philistines 
derided, in hid fall he will draw down the pillars of the mighty temple 
of injustice and slavery, and his enemies will perish in the same catas- 
trophe. 

Many who applaud "Washington because he was successful in opposing 
an unrighteous Government, arc ready to condt mn John Brown because 
he failed. But did not Warren fail and fall at Bunker Hill, amid defeat ? 
His blood was the seed from which thousands of heroes have sprung uj) 
to avenge his de.ith, and to contend for liberty. So Brown has fallen at 
a political Bunker Hill^but a York-Town is yet to come. Said the 
noble old Hero to the cowardly Virginians who were exulting over him, 
" the people of the South had better prepare themselves for a settlement 
of this question. It must come up sooner than they are prepared for it ; 
and the sooner they commence tliat preparation the better it will be for 
them." This question ; the end of it — is not yet. 

Thus the Old Hero bearded the Southern Lion in his den. In the 
midst of enemies whose homes he had invaded, and whose cherished 
institution he had attacked — himself Avounded and a prisoner — sur- 
rounded bj- an army of officials, and a more desperate array of angry men 
— with the galloAvs staring him in the face — he spoke like a man, like 
a hero. He even excited the admiration of his bitterest foes. Said the 
proud Governor of Virginia, "He is the best bundle of nerves leversaAv. 
Cut, and thrust, and bleeding, and in bonds. — he is a man of clear head, 
of courage, fortitude, and of simple ingenuousness. He is cool, collected, 
and indomitable, and he insi)ired me Avith great trust in his integrity as 
a man of truths He is a fanatic; vain and garrulous, but tirm. truthful, 
and intelligent. "W'itli one son dead by his side, and another shot through 
— he felt the i)ulse of his dying son Avith one hand, held his rifle in the 
other, and commanded his men Avith the utmost composure." 

Such Avas John BroAvn, as described by his enemies, in the day of bat- 
tle — nor Avas he less a hero Avhen, in the miscalled court of Justice, he 
was on his Avay to execution. Said he to the Judge — "If I am to be 
hurried to execution, all the trouble and expense can be saved. I feel 
that it is a matter of very little account to me. I did not ask for quar- 
ters at the time I Avas taken. I did not ask to have my life spared. If 
you ask my blood, you can have it at any moment Avithout the mocker}'- 
of a trial. 1 am ready for my fate. I beg for no mockery of a trial to 
insult nic — nothing but that Avhich conscience gives, or cowardice Avould 
drive you to practice. 1 have little to ask other than that I be not fool- 
ishly insulted, as coAvaadly barbarians insult those avKo fall into their 
power." 



Bniveold 111:111! lie was talkinji- to Viioinians wlio knew not l,.,w t.v 
appm iate sucli noble ideas. He liad elements of eliaraet.T as nolile an 
Leoiiidas, as brave as C:esar, as jiious as Cronnvell. Like Napoleoii, he 
had a solf-siistaining coiilideiiee in liis destiny, and his iron will, uiid 
unbending purpose, were equal to his zeal, liis ivii^rioiis enthiHiasni, 
and sense of duty were earnest, and sincere, and no dan<;cr eonld alarm 
or disturb him. Tliough his Avhole nature was subject to, and aimo!-t 
constantly pervaded by tlie deepest excitement, his exterior was always 
calm, cool and undisturbed. His manners, though stern, were genth- and 
courteous. He could w itli equally unmoved nerves, point a rille in battle, 
and play with the child of his jailor in prison. 

A Avanton or cruel act was never charged U])on iiim. I':\cn uk icy was 
his weakness. To spare the feelings of the wives and daiiglit<rs, an<i 
friends of his prisoners, they were ix'rmitted to enter his little fortress, 
and administer to their wants. In all his relations he was scrui)n]<.us!y 
honest, moral, and temperate — and never gave utterance to a boast. 

How unlike, in all particulars, the southern tyrants, who are continu- 
ally frightening northern doughfiices with threats of a dissolution of the 
Union — a southern army — and northern annihilation! "With his .sev- 
enteen whites, and five negroes he captured a town of two tliousand 
inhabitants, in fifteen minutes — and held it for tw'O days — and when the 
three hundred chivalry of the ancient Dominion, with burnished steel, 
and waving plume, and all the pomp and circumstance of war arrived, 
they dare not attack him until a company of marines arrived and bat- 
tered down the impregnable fortress with the end of a ladder. Then 
shone forth the chivalry ! The dead, of Brown's army, lay unburied, and 
the citizen soldiery exhibited tlieir feats of valor on the dead bodies. 
The head of one seen floating in the Potomac, drew a general lire from 
a Volunteer Company of the ''first families,"* exhibiting a surplus of 
heroism conclusiveh' proving that they feared no foe more tiiaii three 
days after he was dead. Xever, since General Eoss, with the British 
army, marched through their State, and with eight hundred men sacked 
the City of AVashington. and retired as peacefully as on a muster day, 
has the valor of Virginia been so aroused or shown so conspicuously. 
Thompson, the son-in-law of Browai, wounded, bleeding, and dying, was 
taken from the arms of a brave and heroic girl, who, trying to save the 
honor of Virginia from cowardly murder, threw herself between the 
rifles of the assassins and tlieir victim, and shot in her presence. A Poca- 
hontas could save a victim from the savages of 1608, but the entreaties 
of such an advocate was lost on the savages of this enlightened age. 

But not only is Virginia aroused, but the President is also nerved fcr 
battle. He could look coldly on and see the Free State men of Kansas 
murdered— printing presses destroyed— hotels battered down, and reward- 
ed the ruffians with office. He could send the troops of the United States 
to Kansas to aid the slave exteusionists in forcing slavery on the jicoplc, 
but here, when an old man of three-score years and three, stung to mad- 
ness by the murder of his sons, and the wrongs of his countrymen 
attempts to set the bondman free, martial law is proclaimed, and the 
troops are ordered to pursue the fugitive friends of Freedom "into any 
locality where they mav have fled." The United States court* and mar- 
2 



10 

shalj!, with "the Fng-itive slavo law " to back tlicin.' will ordinarily an- 
swer tlie purpose of putting down and stitling freedom of speech and 
action at tlie north, and overawe niillions who ought to stand to the right 
regardless of bonds or gibbets— but when Old Brown, with seventeen 
white men, and live negroes, with a schoolmaster at their head, invades 
Virginia, the land of Presidents, martial law must be added, and the 
United States 3Iarines must be advanced to the support of the military 
of that chivalrous State. But the worst cut of all is, the United States 
Attorney is ordered by the President, to proceed forthwith to Harpers 
Ferry, to take charge of the legal proceedings against the few live pris- 
oners " and bring them to trial "—as if the President doubted whether 
the legal ability, and efficacy of the chivalry would be more efficacious 
then their military prowess. 

But the chivalry have Brown, and the others in their hands — five poor 
wounded, bleeding remains only of w^hat had been Heroes — not Iheir cap- 
tives but the captives of the marines — stabbed, hacked, shot, and sup- 
posed to be d^-ing. they can no longer offer resistance, and the chivalry 
become brave. Gov. Wise refused to give them up to the President, and 
says he will not obey his order to do so, but sends the President a spear, 
taken from this formidable army, after its owners were slain, and the 
mighty President, of this mighty Republic, like a squalling child with a 
rattle, is pacified, 

But it is said, " Old Brown was crazy '"-would to God that we had 
millions of such crazy men at the North, who were ready to peril life for 
right, and universal liberty. "The Fugitive Slave Law" is nothing but 
an invasion of the jSTortls and Northern rights, under the forms of law. 
It is of almost daily oeOurrence that the slave catchers of the South. 
aided by the miserable and meaner allies of the North, are stealing our 
citizens and carrying them into slavery. Our courts are unrecognized ; 
our lawyers gagged ; our Constitution nullified ; our territory, made free 
by the glorious ordinance of '87, converted into a hunting ground on 
which the tyrants of the South may take whom they please, and covert 
them into chattels. AVith, or without a warrant, they seize whom they 
please, and resistance becomes treason. Northern Senators who dare 
complain, are excluded from all commitces, as not belonging to healthy 
organizations; club-law is introduced into the Senate by the chivalry of 
the South, to silence arguments they cannot answer; the Senate, under 
the lash of the South dare not disapprove the act, and the Squth glories 
in It: and. having sold the bones of Washington, as no longer represent- 
ing their princii)les, they make the assassin their hero, and raise him a 
monument? These are the men so clamorous for Brown's blood, as a 
traitor to liberty and free institutions! Kather would I have the honor 
of Brown's death on a gibbet, for his glorious principles, than a monu. 
mcnt erect(>d by slaveholders with the price of human blood. 

When tlie time comes, as come it will, in which the North will say to 
the southern tyrannj-, "thus far you have come, but no further shall you 
come" — when the soil of the North shall cease to bring forth and nur- 
ture doughfaces — when man shall act upon the great truth that "all are 
created free and equal," and "the golden rule" shall cease to be a dead 
letter, then will John Brown take his place among the heroes of the 



11 

world. If the sovereignty of the States; the Dcehiratioii of Iiidepciul- 
ence; the principles of the Constitution — and tiie coniity between tlic 
States are to be destroyed — invasion and war justified to extend liunian 
slavery, and citizens of tlie free States are refused the protection of (lieir 
own laws, and regarded as the spoil of any ti-aflicer in human flesh; 
our Government ceases its protection, and has no claim to allegiance. 
We then say " resistance to tyrants is obedience to God '' — and our duty 
should be as plain to us as Brown's was to him. For myself I say, I care 
not whether the order comes from a Judge, or Commissioner, or a Presi- 
dent, if it is to transport a citizen of this to a slave state, without the 
laws of his own — I say resist it, and let the South and her base, servile 
minions of the North know that she sleeps on a magazine that a spark 
from the North can at any moment explode. 

"This tragedy of Brown's is freighted with awful lessons, and conse- 
quences. It is like the clock striking the fatal hour that begins a new 
era in the conflict with slavery. Men like Brown, may die, but their acts 
and principles will live forever. Call it fanaticism, folly, madness, wick- 
edness," but until virtue becomes fanaticism. Divine Wisdom folly, 
obedience to God madness, and piety wickedness, John Brown, inspired 
with these high and holy teachings, will rise up before the world with 
his calm, marble features, more terrible in death, and defeat, than in life 
and victory. It is one of those acts of madness which History cherishes 
and Poetry loves forever to adorn with her choicest wreaths of laureL" 

' ' Truth forever on the scaffold — wrong forever on the throne, 
Yet thiit scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown 
St.andetli God within the shadow, keeping watch above hia own." 



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